Non Verbal Body Language Dictionary ::N::

Did we forget a nonverbal term? Suggest it in the comment box or e-mail it direct, and we’ll be ecstatic to add it! With well over 500 terms, the BLP dictionary is growing to be the largest free nonverbal dictionary in the world! Brought to you exclusively by The Body Language Project! Visit our homepage for more free learning.

Nail biting: Nonverbal signal where the finger nails are chewed. It signals apprehension, anxiety, discomfort and a lack of self-confidence.

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Namaste: A greeting gesture common in India and Nepal. It is done by pressing the hands together palm in palm with fingers pointed upward in front of the chest. A slight bow of the head is sometimes added.

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Nasal wing dilation or nose flaring: Technical term for flared nostrils indicating that a person is entering a fight or flight response and is preparing for action by increasing oxygen uptake.

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Natural smilers: These are people that have a genuine symmetrical smile where both corners of the lips turn upwards equally. Natural smilers will have more even smiles as both sides of their brain respond to pleasure. Smiles that are not genuine are more pronounced on the left side of the face since they are consciously being controlled.

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Neck exposures: Exposures of the neck are linked to visceral responses linked to submissiveness and are displayed during courtship by women and by children.

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Neck rubbing or neck touching: The neck hold, scratch or rub is a response to negative feelings and is a restraint posture as in “holding one’s self back” as one might do to a wily cat or dog by grabbing them by the scruff of the neck only in this case, it is done to one’s self.

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Negative body language: Negative body language is any nonverbal cue meant to portray discomfort such as fear, aggression, timidity or shyness. When compared to positive body language, negative body language tends to be more honest since we routinely hide our shortcomings and are instructed to do so as children.

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Neocortex or mammalian brain: “Neo” from the root “new” is meant to describe the mammalian brain which is more complex and used for higher order thinking and planning. The neocortex is divided into four lobes, the frontal lobe which handles reasoning, speech, movement, and emotions, the parietal lobe is related to orientation, sensory information, recognition, and perception, the occipital lobe which handles vision and the temporal lobe which handles sounds and smells. These parts of the brain are active in deception and also creating false or misleading body language gestures. It is also referred to as the “lying brain.”

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Neoteny: All children are born with a small nose, round chubby cheeks, soft skin, big eyes and a big round face. We call these features neotenous as they remind us of characteristics found near birth. Neotenous features evoke protective feelings in others, even if carried by adults.

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Nervous body language or nervousness: Includes cues that results from discomfort. They include increased eye blink rate, stuttering, dilated pupils, fidgeting, appearing unfriendly or tense, facial fidgeting, shaking, postural shifts or unrelaxed/reserved postures, twitches, shrugs, head movements, playing with objects, sneering, scowling, frowning, smiling, coughing, biting the lower lip, pressing the lips together, increases in chattiness or becoming quiet, wrinkling of the nose, increase in perspiration, blushing or turning pale, curling up in a ball, shifting weight from side to side, rocking in a chair, uncrossing and recrossing the arms or legs, tapping the fingers and increased swallowing.

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Nervous energy: Extra energy that courses through the body due to various stress hormones producing telltale nonverbal behaviours. A person who is anxious will tend to fidget more often, bounce their legs up and down, pace back and forth, play with their face, scratch their arms or even shake uncontrollably. When people have nervous energy, they use movement to burn it off or displace it.

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Nervous hands: Hands that shake, quiver, or fidget indicate stress through a surge of adrenaline. Sometimes nervous hands are disguised through clasping or tucking them into pockets.

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Nervous feet or anxious feet: The polar opposite to happy feet. Nervous feet are more jarring with heel bumps, kicks, and grinding. Angry feet can be even more aggressive and stomp.

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Nervous smile: A fleeting smile that quickly shows and disappears, the eyes are tensed and darting and the lips may quiver in fear. Other times the smile is long-lasting, more than ordinary eluding to strong discomfort and withholding of information.

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Nonelective physical characteristics: One of two types of outer physical traits that a person might have from which a person might be judged (the other being elective). A nonelective trait includes a person’s height, to some degree their weight, body proportions, their complexion, facial features, physical handicaps, the colour of their hair, their age and sex, their race, and so forth. These are important cues to the nonverbalist, but not nearly as much as elective characteristics since they are not chosen. Nonelective traits influence how people are perceived by others and can therefore predict in a general sense how they have been treated by others to produce their core character, but it does not predict their underlying emotions and personality.

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Nonthreatening body language: Nonverbal communication that indicates that a person is not looking for a confrontation and one who is friendly. These include open palm displays, erect, yet relaxed body postures, relaxed gaze, smiling, comfortable proximity, among others.

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Nonverbal awareness: The relative consciousness of silent messages in ones immediate surroundings and their inherent power.

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Nonverbal communication or NVC: Behaviour including gestures, postures, eye patterns, touch, facial expression, fashion, use of space and territory and paraverbal cues that are either directly or are indirectly used to convey meaning from one person to another.

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Nonverbal empathy: Like emotional empathy which is the capability to share in another’s feelings, nonverbal empathy is the capability to share in another’s emotions by connecting to their unspoken movements. It is related to rapport building, but of which no link between two people needs to established, just pure understanding. Mother’s who focus on their preverbal children to understand their desires and wishes by monitoring eye contact, eye direction, pointing, bouncing, use of touch and various other signals will have nonverbal empathy with their children.

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Nonverbal hot spots: An area of the body where active nonverbals are being emitted which provide useful clues to a nonverbalist.

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Nonverbal intelligence: The relative knowledge of the postures and gestures and their meaning coupled with the ability to apply them in a skillful way to bring success to all facets of life including personal and work.

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Non-verbalist (the): A person who is deeply fascinated with watching the silent language occurring all around them. The non-verbalist will watch people in all functions, at nightclubs, at the park, in malls, on television, or at the office. They will consume material and scientific research to learn and build on their resource base so they can master reading, what is to ordinary people, hidden thoughts and emotions as well as to build on and improve their relationships with others.

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Nonverbal leakage: Body language signals which are emitted from a person without their conscious awareness, or at times despite their conscious awareness, which provides useful, yet otherwise hidden information to others.

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Nonverbal physical mannerisms: Ways the body can be held to convey various meanings. For example, standing over someone as they work displays aggression, whereas placing chairs at forty-five degree angles, crossing the legs toward your partner, and avoid putting the hands together shows assertiveness and control. Other mannerisms like drumming the fingers and tapping the feet show nervousness.

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Nonverbal radar: The decision to be watchful of the nonverbal communication occurring all around a person. A person might have their radar turned on to study other people or they might relax it, such as with friends and family.

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Nonverbal vetting: A process of careful observation and evaluation of a person through nonverbal channels to assess their honesty, character, motives, and usefulness.

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Nose crinkle: Happens when the muscles between the eyes just above the nose contract forcing the skin around the nose to wrinkle. It signifies dislike and disgust and can happen in fractions of a second making it very reliable.

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Nose touch: Touching the nose with the hand is a discomfort gesture linked to anxiety and so is a pacifying gesture. Other times it provides clues that a person is lying.

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Nose turning: A signal of dislike or disbelief where the nose momentary twitches to the side. It is as if a person is moving their nose away from a disagreeable smell.

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Nose up gesture: A confidence display where the chin comes up and is opposite to the head down submissive posture.

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Not OK people: People that are uncomfortable with who they are. They have shoulders hunched and carry a negative facial emotions. You may naturally feel wary when around them without reason.

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NLP: Abbreviation for Neuro-Linguistic Programming. NLP is a system developed to help induce behavioural changes and improve communication between colleagues as well as to re-train thinking in business. It was developed in the 1970s where two researches in California, Richard Bandler and John Grinder noted that the predominant research into human behaviour focused on analysis rather then retraining thinking patterns. NLP is driven by defining positive outcomes, understanding how other’s perceive particular circumstances and in identifying the roots by which thoughts affect images and sound or feelings.

The Body Language Project is the result of a decade of personal research including a thorough review of over 60 primary scientific research journal articles. Learning body language forms the perfect foundation for success in ALL your communication.

If you are only picking up on what is being said, you are missing more than half of the message.

For more information on BodyLanguage be sure to check out: BodyLanguageProject.com and the Ebook – The Body Language Guide to Dating, Attraction and Sexual Body Language.

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